Prepare the Way

Darkness cannot overcome the Light

Photo by Hikarinoshita Hikari on Unsplash

Friends,

I find myself having a hard time writing today. I want to bring you joy and love in a message. After all, we are one week from Christmas. Yet I carry, maybe like you, a sense of heaviness of the world. I wonder if we are living in a world not so far removed from what it was like in the time of Jesus’ birth. There must have been a great anticipation of joy for the birth and also a real fear that caused Joseph to uproot his family. He had to find a place where they could be safe. I often think about safety these days. I think a lot about my neighbors and their safety. Many times in the Bible it says “Do not be afraid” or “Fear not”. Angels have appeared to calm in fearful times. It is a call to courage and faith. Right now, I wonder if there is an angel appearing somewhere proclaiming to us “Do not be afraid”. Angel, I’m looking for you….. inside of myself.

I don’t write this to be political. I write it to be a witness of how the empire has operated in times such as these. When most of us have little power to intervene and those who do have power, do nothing, or participate in making it worse. John the Baptist knew he was going to be a witness to someone who would be a force to change the world. He did not know who it would be but he wanted to prepare the way.

John 1: 6-8

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. (New International Version)

Like John the Baptist, I ask for us to prepare the way for love and peace. I ask us to be a witness to all that surrounds us. Seek out how we can be the light in the midst of darkness and to also be a witness to the light. I ask us to pray for peace and safety for our neighbors. I believe that if more people commit to doing this, our world will become a better place for all. This is the hope I share with you during this week in Advent.

May it be so,

Jace

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Teak wood relief door panel carved by Cornelio Manguma, 1958, showing John the Baptist preaching repentance (upper register) and baptizing Christ (lower register). St. Mary’s Church, Serima Mission, Zimbabwe. From: https://artandtheology.org/2017/12/05/prepare-the-way-artful-devotion/

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Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light

Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.

Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.

—Jan Richardson
From Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.

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The Prayer Book of John the Baptist

Is written on
locusts’ wings.

Is stained with
wild honey.

Is buckled by
baptismal waters.

Is mostly
pages of wilderness
where prayers are formed
not from what is present
but from what has been
worn away.

Is inscribed
with an ancient path.

Is waiting.

Is falling open
toward the light.

—Jan Richardson
http://adventdoor.com/2011/12/08/advent-3-the-prayer-book-of-john-the-baptist/

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